As Unique as We Are
by angiembabe
Summary: It is the night before Battle City begins and Yugi is troubled. He decides to visit his 'Other Self' in his soul room to talk about it.


This is based on the manga. It started out as notes and drabbles that explored what might have gone on between Yugi and the Pharaoh on the eve of Battle City. And then I thought, why not put it into some sort of order and publish it as a one off.

I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

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As Unique as We Are.

Resting deep inside his own soul room, Yugi had time to think. And although his body was tucked up in bed fast asleep, his mind was restless and could not relax.

His other self had been moody and a little depressed since discovering he could only exist through Yugi when he wore the puzzle. He had no memories of his former life as a possible King of Egypt, and had no idea how or why he had come to be in the puzzle.

Yugi had found it hard to talk to him about it. Every time he tried, his Other Self would change the subject or refuse to come out of the puzzle at all. It didn't help that they were guys and as such, were pretty rubbish at discussing their feelings

That is why Yugi had decided to set the spirit up on the date with Anzu. If anyone could get the spirit to talk about his feelings, it would be her.

It had been hard for Yugi to set the girl he loved up on a date with another man, even if that man was possibly an extension of himself and was using _his_ body.

Not wanting to interfere in their date for fear of becoming jealous should anything romantic happen between them, Yugi had buried himself deep inside his own soul room and refused to come out. Now he regretted it, because neither the spirit or Anzu would tell him what had gone on that day.

All they had said was they had talked over coffee, hung out at the arcade and that he had decided to enter the Duel Monsters tournament.

That was two days ago now and Yugi was growing ever more suspicious, it was as if they were trying to protect him from something. Yugi had already told Anzu he thought it was odd that his other Self would want to wager their precious cards in a duel, but Anzu was not saying very much.

This secrecy was eating him up inside and making him feel jealous. He loved them both in different ways and thought they would be more open with him. So what were they hiding? Had they kissed? Held hands? Vowed not to tell him about their love for each other? If he didn't resolve this, and soon. It could destroy his relationship with them both. If that happened, the cards would not trust them and they might lose this tournament his other Self seemed so keen to enter.

Trouble was, he was too embarrassed to tackle either of them about it. He was certain they had not slept together. If they had, Yugi was pretty sure he would know about his body had been used for something like that. And besides, he trusted the spirit not to do anything with his body without his consent. His Other Self also knew how much Yugi liked Anzu.

However, it was no secret that Anzu had a crush on his Other Self. Even though she had reassured Yugi at Duelist Kingdom that it had always been ordinary Yugi she liked, he still didn't believe her. He would watch the way she behaved around him when _HE_ took over. His other Self didn't appear to notice the longing looks she gave him, or the dusting of pink on her cheeks as she touched his arm when they talked. But Yugi did, while hovering in spirit form next to them. _She never looks at me like that, or touches me like that. She behaves more like a sister around me!_ He would think miserably.

Deciding that it was unhealthy for them to continue keeping secrets, Yugi got out of bed and tiptoed out of his soul room. The corridor between their rooms was dark. Yugi padded across the cold floor in his bare feet to the big heavy door that guarded his other's room. He tried the handle but unusually, it was locked! _He never locks his door!_ Yugi was a little surprised. He tentatively knocked and got no response so he hammered on the door and called out. "Other Me, are you awake? We need to talk." Still no response.

Feeling miserable and confused, Yugi turned his back to the door and slid down onto his haunches. "Why won't you talk Other Me? Are you angry with me about something? Are you hiding something?"

::::::::::::

In his soul room, the spirit was also deep in thought. His date with Anzu had only served to confuse him further. Part of him, the part that was afraid, had hoped he was indeed the other Yugi. Now he knew for definite he was not; he was nothing but the ghost of a long forgotten Pharaoh from 3000 years ago that had been so evil his people had removed his name from the list of Kings, and his memories had been erased. He had no body and no identity.

Had he been put in the puzzle and buried deep under ground as a punishment for some ghastly crime? If that was so then it meant that he must be truly evil. It would certainly seem to fit because he had done some pretty terrible things before Yugi had managed to communicate with him and stop him from hurting people.

Maybe Yugi was his physical reincarnation containing only the good parts and they had been brought together for him to finally seek redemption for his crimes?

Whatever it was, he felt it unfair to involve his Aibou. Yugi was so pure and innocent, so how could he drag him into this any further? Yugi had already risked his life to save the puzzle from the fire! What else would he be prepared to do in order to save a worthless spirit?

He wished he had asked more questions of this Ishizu woman they had met, but he had been so shocked by the revelations on the stone tablet that he had been unable to take it all in and process it properly. Ishizu seemed nice enough and had said she was some sort of tomb guardian and had been waiting for him! Was she in some sort of sect that worshipped evil Pharaohs?

The only way for him to find out the truth was to enter this tournament Ishizu spoke of and find out. But he was afraid of himself- afraid for Yugi. It would be far easier to just forget all about the past and live for the here and now, as part of Yugi. He was happy enough as he was.

Just then he heard a knock on the door. It was Yugi. Usually he left his door unlocked to his Aibou but at the moment he wasn't sure if he could face him, so he had locked him out.

" _Why won't you talk to me Other Me? Are you angry with me about something?"_

The words pierced his heart like a knife. "No," the spirit clenched his fists. "I'm angry at myself," he muttered.

::::::::::::

From his crouched position, Yugi thought he felt something radiating from within the room. It was a feeling of despair. He stood abruptly and hammered on the door again. "Other Me!" He called desperately fearful for the spirit's sanity.

Using all of his mental resolve, Yugi willed the door to open; he would not be kept out of the room.

Feeling the strength coming through the door from Yugi, the spirit gasped and momentarily relaxed his defences.

The door flung open so quickly that Yugi flew into the room and landed in a heap on the floor.

He looked up to see a miserable and forlorn spirit standing over him. "Aibou! What are you doing here?"

"Other Me!" Yugi stood up and brushed the knees of his pale blue pyjamas. "I..I was worried. You have been avoiding me and I don't know what to think... W... we need to talk."

"There is nothing wrong." His usually strong voice was cracking slightly, so Yugi knew he was lying.

"I'm not leaving until we talk," Yugi said assertively. "We are both avoiding certain things and unless we can talk about it we can't move forward. Whatever happened on your date with Anzu has shaken you. You need to find out the truth about who you are and you need my help. So don't push me away."

The strong tone of voice and the determination behind Yugi's words stunned the spirit of the Pharaoh. He looked up and met Yugi's gaze. It was full of genuine love and concern which made the spirit feel slightly comforted. "I'm sorry Aibou. I'm afraid of who I am, of what I might have been. I want to know but fear is holding me back."

Yugi had initially come here to talk about his own fears, but now his jealous thoughts seemed selfish. He was deeply concerned about his Other Self's well being.

Yugi smiled and taking his hand, led him over to the steps to sit down. "Why are you afraid? You are usually the strong one and it is me who is weak."

The spirit placed his over hands over Yugi's and held his hand tightly in both of his. "You have never been weak Aibou. If you were I would not be here. The truth is I am lost."

"Well then, let me help? That is why we were brought together- to help each other."

"Yes, you are right. But I can feel your fears too and I can assure you you have nothing to worry about. As attractive as Anzu is, I have no body of my own and until I know what my future holds, I will not allow myself to become romantically involved with Anzu or any other woman, despite desires I may have. I am also fully aware of your feelings for Anzu and would never steal her from you." He noticed Yugi's face was tinged with pink. He found it cute how bashful the boy could be when his crush on Anzu was mentioned. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly into a slight smile. Yugi had a right to know so he continued. "The other day, Anzu and I visited the museum, we saw a stone tablet from Egypt with a carving of my ancient self as a Pharaoh, facing a priest who looked like Kaiba. They were fighting a battle with what looked like duel monsters. I had the Dark Magician and Kaiba had his Blue Eyes. I do not know why this battle took place. My real name had been scratched off the bottom of the stone tablet. It has caused me to fear I was evil and that I was locked away and stripped of my identity as punishment. I am afraid that whatever we might discover about my past life will end up harming you."

Yugi was a little shocked but not surprised the spirit had been a Pharaoh, they had wondered if he might be. He shook his head. "You are definitely _not_ evil. Take Bakura - now his spirit _is_ evil! It possesses him against his will and makes him do terrible things. Even at your worst, you never put me through anything like that! You have given the courage I never knew I could have! You are the half of my soul that I always felt was missing. I even wish I _was_ you sometimes. Our bond is greater than any sort of love."

"Thank you Aibou," the spirit smiled. "But you should never underestimate yourself, without you, I too lack courage at times. Perhaps we have been brought together so that we may learn from each other. If we take this road towards finding my true identity, it may lead us to things we didn't want to find. But I know I cannot exist like this forever. Unless I find out how I came to exist inside the puzzle without any memories, I can't move forward and neither can you."

Yugi had tears in his eyes as he spoke. "As much as I want to keep you in my heart forever, I know it is unfair to do so. One day I will have to stand on my own and let you go. I don't care how dangerous the road ahead is, we will face it together and I will help you. We are a team!" He smiled through his tears and offered a high five.

Yugi was surprised to see the usually stoic spirit with tears in his own eyes as he accepted the high five, slapping Yugi's hand. The sound of their palms coming together echoed throughout the puzzle.

"Who knows," the spirit paused, listening to the reverberations as they gradually faded into the distant chambers of the puzzle. "One day I might even be able to turn this place into a warm, comfortable room!"

"When you do, be sure to invite your friends for coffee!" Yugi joked.

"You bet I will." The pair stood up.

"Well, I guess I had better be leaving. I think my alarm will be going off any time now!" There was a moment of hesitation before Yugi flung his arms around his other Self, clamping him on the back.

"I don't care if you were a powerful Pharaoh or a lowly slave. To me you are the brother I always wanted. Even if you have to leave I will always remember you, Other Me,"

The spirit was taken back for a moment. He wasn't sure how to handle shows of affection. Even though he had no memories, he didn't think that he was one for sentimental acts. However, something about being so close to Yugi warmed his heart and soul. Slowly he raised his arms to wrap them round Yugi in return, hugging him close. Neither said anything, they didn't need to.

After a couple of minutes they pulled apart. "Whelp! See you in the morning." Yugi smiled and turned to leave.

The spirit watched him exit through the door to his soul room with a renewed feeling of resolve. Yugi didn't realise it but he gave the spirit hope and the strength to keep fighting, in this quest to fulfil his destiny. "Don't forget to shut the door on your way out," he called. Yugi was a bugger for always leaving doors open.

But it was too late, Yugi had disappeared half way through the door, which meant his alarm must have gone off and woken him up.

Tutting, the spirit walked over to the door to close it, but hesitated. _What the heck! Let's leave an open mind for a change._ He smiled to himself, ready to take on whatever obstacles lay in the road before them.

The End.

 **Please let me know what you thought.**


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